Imagine a situation where a loved one dies and there is a contest over the validity of the will. The question arises: What was the decedent’s mental state in drafting the will? A typical, knee jerk answer is that the decedent had a perfectly clear state of mind. However, testamentary capacity doesn’t require such a high level of clarity in communication and comprehension. Further, overstating a decedent’s capacity might actually lead a trier of fact to

With proposals to repeal the federal estate tax and the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax on the table, the new administration may be opening up some rare estate planning options. Under President Donald Trump’s proposal, the current step-up in basis for income tax purposes on assets owned at death would be limited to $10 million of assets. The intention, according to the proposal, is to exempt small businesses and family farms. It’s likely that assets exceeding $10

Survivorship life insurance (also known as “second-to-die”) can be an important vehicle to consider for estate planning in the right cases. This type of insurance policy covers two lives and pays out the proceeds when the second insured dies. One benefit is that the premium tends to be lower than it would be for two separate policies because the life expectancy is based on the two insureds’ combined ages and the insurer has lower administrative costs.

Approximately 40 percent of marriages these days are remarriages for at least one partner. When you remarry, there are all sorts of issues to consider related to your estate plan. For older people, the main focus may be ensuring that their adult children or grandchildren have an inheritance. Without proper planning, a new spouse could receive assets that were originally intended for children and grandchildren. Here are some important elements to review in order to protect

The ability to take valuation discounts on the transfer of an interest in a family business for estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax purposes would be drastically limited under long-awaited proposed regulations from the Treasury Department. The most impactful element of the proposal bars any significant discount for lack of control or lack of marketability associated with the transfer of an interest in a family-controlled entity. If the regulations are finalized as written, the tax cost

If you have a child who is away at college, you should be aware that the federal medical privacy rules apply to him or her. Once your child turns 18, the federal HIPAA law says that you can no longer have access your child’s medical information without his or her consent. That’s a problem, because if there’s an emergency and your child isn’t able to provide consent, you might not be able to access the information

Executors have a tough and often thankless job. They have to marshal all the estate’s assets, file tax returns, and distribute property according to the will. Sometimes, they make mistakes. Here’s a look at the most common ones: Paying bills too soon. Executors often see bills arrive in the mail and decide to pay them right away to avoid any problems. But this can actually create problems. There’s an order in which bills must be paid:

You might think that estate planning would be easy when couples don’t have children. In fact, it can sometimes be more difficult – and also more important. Couples with children generally agree about passing on their assets to their kids, and can rely on their offspring to serve as caregivers and executors. It might not be so easy for other couples. For instance, suppose Mike and Helen write a will leaving their assets to each other.